Federal database for Covid-19 vaccination info raises concerns about privacy and vaccine uptake
Sun December 13, 2020
(CNN)As Operation Warp Speed prepares to give the first Americans the coronavirus vaccine, states are set to turn over varying levels of non-identifiable information about vaccine recipients in order to help the federal government track the effort to eradicate the virus.
But not all states have been willing to hand over their data blanketly. Plans for a new database to manage that information, which OWS laid out last week, have raised privacy concerns and led to fears that it could actually discourage Americans from getting vaccinated.
The issue of data-sharing turned into a standoff between federal agencies compiling the new database and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo Wednesday, with the Democratic governor raising concerns about how it might impact vaccine uptake -- especially in immigrant communities.
State immunization systems will provide non-identifying information, such as who has been vaccinated, what vaccine an individual received, and the site where the vaccine was administered, which will be stored in a cyber-secure federal database called the Data Clearinghouse, according to Army Col. RJ Mikesh, information technology lead for OWS, which is tasked with overseeing federal vaccine distribution.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Department of Health and Human Services have been working on signing data use and sharing agreements with states, counties and other jurisdictions that would allow them to compile state-gathered details in the Data Clearinghouse. The database will then be used for things like accessing patterns of vaccination, tracking the required second doses and highlighting under-vaccinated populations, Mikesh said.
State concerns
Most states have submitted data use agreements, but a handful were still being worked out, and were expected to be finished last week, OWS officials said on a call with reporters on Monday.
But it has raised issues like data privacy, how the data gathering might affect vaccine uptake, and HIPAA compliance.
The Minnesota Department of Health said they will only be sharing date of birth, county and vaccine information to the Data Clearinghouse. "This is just a matter of Minnesota being limited by our state's data privacy laws," said Scott Smith, information officer with the Minnesota Department of Health.
Pennsylvania health department officials initially had submitted edits regarding personally identifiable information, according to department press secretary Nate Wardle. The edits were rejected and the state ended up signing the agreement from the CDC, Wardle told CNN on Friday.
Mikesh defended the information-sharing. "It's really there for that basic uptake, basic safety ... first dose verification. It is not for sharing with other organizations. It's for the pandemic response -- it's a very minimal amount of information. Information that is personal ... is really there to help us with that first dose verification so that we can understand what the person received, and when they receive it," he said.
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